


Castle in the Sky

by MegumitheGreat



Series: Shameless Mitchentine what-ifs, inserts, and fixes [4]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: AU - Mitch Lives, Banter, F/M, Future Plans, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Self-Indulgent, one shot series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 21:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20553221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegumitheGreat/pseuds/MegumitheGreat
Summary: Clementine, AJ, and Tennessee escape the cave with James's help to hold back the walkers.  As they walk, Mitch meets with them.





	Castle in the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Another little diddy because Mitch would probably have pre-bridge banter. Following from In the Pines [LOUIS CAPTURED]

“Do you think he made it?” AJ asked Clementine. They had just escaped a cave. When they looked up at it, they remembered that they had once been kept here by cannibals.

It made Clementine sick to her stomach to remember how scared her friends were, and now that James was holding back the walkers in its depths, she feared that he would also die in there. She would never know what happened to him, though, if she didn’t get moving. Without a map, she could only guess at the direction which the school might have been in. AJ and Tennessee walked at her sides.

“James is capable,” she finally said. “He should be alright…I think.” At least, she wanted to believe that he would be okay. She wanted to believe that everyone would be okay.

Tennessee and AJ at her sides, Clementine walked through the woods. The torch that they had made in the cave had gone out, and they were left in the brisk darkness of the early morning illuminated only by a partially obscured moon. Dawn was still a long time off. It made her nervous; could she protect the two boys until they made it back to the school? Lilly was dead, so there was no fear of her anymore. Everyone from the raiders group had been picked off one by one. No one was coming after them. But the walkers—the walkers were going to be hunting them.

“Aasim,” Tennessee suddenly said.

Clementine looked down at him.

“Aasim was the third vote. Violet was the first. I was the second. Aasim—I said I wanted you both to stay because I liked you, but Aasim said you should stay because you knew how to survive. He could just tell: We would be safer if you were with us. His reason was way better.”

“Wait, so Ruby voted us out?” AJ asked him almost in tears.

Clementine smiled at the burned boy. She thanked him for his kind words. She wasn’t surprised that Mitch had voted her to leave. She remembered how angry he was after Marlon’s death, and it took a lot of work for them to finally be friends again. And she still felt strange about it now that they were a couple. Even though he had apologized, she wondered if he still hated her to some extent.

There was a rustling in the trees around them, sending both Clementine and AJ on guard. Clementine clutched her bow. “Show yourself!” she cried out. She drew back on the string.

“Clem?” Mitch’s voice whispered. He hobbled out into the open. His knee was still badly injured, but it had at least been wrapped. “God, I’m so glad I found you,” he sighed with relief.

“Mitch!” AJ happily cried out. He and Tennessee ran to embrace him followed by Clementine hugging him and giving him a quick peck.

“Did everyone make it back home?” Clementine asked him.

“Yeah,” Mitch answered. “How I got my knee patched up. Are you alright?” Clementine nodded. “I’m glad.”

The four of them began to walk together. Despite Mitch swearing that Ruby did her best work on his knee, Clementine was nervous about him being outside in such condition. He couldn’t run fast if he needed to. Jumping, climbing, crawling—all of those things were just out of the question. She wouldn’t let him get caught by a walker, but he was nothing more than a sitting duck now. A sitting duck that couldn’t leave his girlfriend to fight her way back even though she was far more capable than him.

AJ and Tennessee talked between them about all the fun things they were going to do once they got home. Mitch’s arrival had taken off some of the pressure of looking out for Clementine a little bit. “Ruby’s…hoo-tan-annie…was really fun,” AJ giggled. “We should do it again. We should draw together again.”

Clementine was so happy to hear her boy talk like a child. Everything was going to be okay.

“Do you think we’ll be safe now?” Mitch asked her. Clementine looked at him. “I mean, all the raiders are dead now.”

“Well, all the ones that were sent our way are.”

“Not exactly the answer I wanted to hear, but okay.”

“I mean, if anyone comes after us again, we can stop them.” They walked a little farther. “The school actually is pretty sturdy. With a little work, we could make it a fortress.”

“Oh yeah? You did a decent job last time.” He eyed her. “Where were you again? When this all started.”

“I was up in my treehouse; the walkers couldn’t get me there, so I was safe.”

“A treehouse? I always wanted one, but my parents didn’t really see the point of having one. I was a big kid. Too tall for that kind of stuff. What was it like?”

Clementine recounted her treehouse. She had told Kenny’s group years ago that she had hated it, but really it was the only thing that helped her to stay safe until Lee found her. She used to pretend that the treehouse was a portal to a new world. It was her castle, and she was the warrior princess that protected it. It was a pirate ship, and she was the captain. It was a spaceship, and she was the astronaut. It was so many things at once.

“I wouldn’t mind having another treehouse,” she said without thinking.

“We can arrange that.” He walked in time with her. “So how about it? Tell me what you got.”

Clementine giggled. Despite their circumstances and all the injuries received from their fight with the raiders, it was nice to take a break and fantasize about the future. The school wasn’t going to be just a community. It was going to be their heaven on earth. Right now, it was only a castle in the sky, but with work and elbow grease, it could be the very thing that every kid in the school wanted.

“Well, first, we have to fix everything. You know that part of the school that burned down? If we can rebuild that, we can have an extra room for whatever purpose we need.”

“I guess that means we should open up the greenhouse, too. Ruby and Omar could use those herbs.”

“And then after all that, we can make a treehouse…with a tire swing for the kids.”

“A tire swing? Really going retro!” 

His steady walk had become more of limp the longer they went. He was doing his best not to show how much pain he was in, but Clementine could see it. She glanced down at his knee where an increasingly darkening spot colored the bandages around his knee.

“Let’s take a break,” Clementine said.

“You don’t mind?” Mitch asked, taking measured breaths to keep calm. He winced as he rested against a tree.

“No, and besides, I don’t think there are any walkers around. AJ, Tenn, we’re taking a break.”

The two young boys caught up to them with an anxiousness that she had thought had gone with the raiders. AJ instinctively pulled out his shiv.

“Relax, there’s nothing around here,” Clementine sighed.

“I’m not taking any chances,” AJ replied.

Mitch let out a chuckle. He appreciated the break. It gave him more time to think about how to make the school less of a school and more like a home. He joked about going to the nearest furniture store and getting new stuff until the idea of a furnished house brought a longing that he never thought he would feel again after being abandoned. He stole a glance at Clementine. To have a home with her and their boys and everyone else in the school…

“Do you think we can fix the piano?” she suddenly asked.

“That old thing? Why bother?”

With a shrug, she thought it was a good way to keep up with things they used to have. Music was no longer being constantly made, and even though Louis was loud and annoying, he was their music man. Mitch wrinkled his nose in disdain at the idea; however, AJ had liked playing the piano when they first arrived. And he liked the music at the little shindig that they threw before the rescue.

“We…can try…” Mitch reluctantly agreed.

“You sure?” Clementine drawled.

“Yes, yes. As much as I’d hate it. But if it’ll make the kids happy.”

“I don’t know. You seem kind of against it.”

Mitch smirked at her teasingly. “We gotta get back first. Ready to get going?” He pushed him from the trunk, his leg tingling only slightly but otherwise good enough to continue the journey back.

“You can lean on me,” Clementine offered.

Even though they were a couple, Mitch still blushed at her compassion and touching her in any way. He gently put his weight on her to relieve his leg. AJ and Tennessee exchanged looks, the former with a goofy grin. Just a little farther, Clementine knew. They weren’t far from the school. They just had to get—

“We just have to cross this bridge, and we’re home,” Clementine sighed.

**Author's Note:**

> A little short, a little boring, but hey--I thought it was cute.


End file.
